DNC Chair Struggles to Explain Un-Democratic Superdelegate Process

‘We have not ever nominated a candidate for president as our party’s nominee with anything but the pledged delegates that are selected by voters’

HAYES: “You know, there’s been a lot of talk about superdelegates, obviously as this sort of delegate race goes forward and people are adding them up. Can you explain the Democrats why superdelegates exist?”
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: “Sure, unpledged delegates were created by the Democratic Party in 1984. So this is not a new development. And as I had a chance to talk to Rachel a couple of weeks ago about — imagine, Chris, if you were someone who wanted to run for delegate and go to our convention, if you had to run against a member of Congress, a former DNC chair, a, you know, a high-profile politician in your community, the chances of you being elected in your congressional district to be a delegate are pretty slim. So in 1984, the party made a decision to take those party leaders and elected official, designate them as unpledged delegates. And that way we free up these delegates slots —“
HAYES: “Right.”
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: “— for a more diverse delegation all across the country. And at the end of the day we’ve not ever nominated a candidate for president as our party’s nominee with anything but the pledge delegates that are selected by voters.“

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